The Whittier Planning Commission on on Tuesday, Jan. 18 approved a 4,038-square-foot “small format retail market” on the site of now-closed Stereo Super Stores, 14249 Whittier Blvd.

A 4,038 square-foot Amazon market is proposed for much of this former Stereo Super Stores, 14249 Whittier Blvd., as shown on Jan. 18, 2021. (Staff photo by Mike Sprague)

A  second Amazon store is going to open in Whittier, but this new store will be more the size of a large convenience store.

The Whittier Planning Commission on on Tuesday, Jan. 18 approved a 4,038-square-foot  “small format retail market” on the site of now-closed Stereo Super Stores, 14249 Whittier Blvd., also formerly a Music Plus store.

An  Amazon Fresh supermarket about a year ago opened in Whittier at the site of a former Orchard Supply Hardware store across the street from Whittwood Town Center.

While Amazon in an email refused to comment, its business plan submitted to the city said the market will offer a wide variety of products, including deli goods, dairy and cheese products, and a small selection of household goods, and personal care items.

There also will be hot and cold food prepared onsite, according to the plan.

“I’m super excited, ” Councilman Fernando Dutra, whose district includes the property, said in a Wednesday telephone interview. “Amazon wouldn’t invest in the city unless they believed in it.”

Ben Pongetti, interim director of community development, said the new store will be beneficial to the area.

“A lot of folks like to get in and out quickly in a store,” Pongetti said

A second, 1,457-square foot store will be next door and also was approved. City staff isn’t aware of what business will go into that site, the city staff report said.

The commission also voted to allow Amazon to sell alcoholic beverages. The area, which has only store with a liquor license, isn’t considered over-concentrated, Ellen Fitzgerald, senior planner, said.

The proposed Amazon store appears to be closer to its AmazonGo convenience stores, some of which are even smaller than the new Whittier store. News reports say many of these stores are cashierless.